How to Encourage Lync Users to Use More Than Just IM

The other day I was talking to some friends. The discussion turned to blogs. I mentioned this blog; one of my friends said her office used Lync (still on 2010 though).

I asked her what she liked about it, thinking there might be a good post or case study in the making here.

She said, “I don’t really use much of it. Just the IM.”

Questioning further, I found that her office used Lync Instant Messaging for most inter-department conversations. Presence was secondary in terms of use, and making phone calls out was a distant third. I’m not even sure if they knew Group Chat existed!

Naturally, this got me thinking. If Lync Server is set up with all these great communications tools, and nobody uses them, what good are they?

4 ways to encourage users toward using Lync for communication

If you’re a sysadmin or IT manager, it’s your job to make sure users are educated about what tools are available to them. Allow me to assist!

If you need to encourage further Lync adoption, here are 4 ideas to help. You can use any or all of these, depending on your office environment.

Educate your users with a visual display of Lync’s full capabilities. The key here is ‘visual.’ Hold a conference call and give a short presentation on Lync’s services. Send an email around once a month “highlighting” one Lync tool at a time. Maybe hold a contest to see who can use all the services in one day. Be creative!

Use them yourself to contact co-workers. I know, many of us prefer to do our day-to-day work via email (I’m guilty too!). Set an example (at least temporarily) by making use of other Lync tools. For instance, loop a manager and an employee into a conference call, and add in a whiteboard as a “creative space.” If talking with someone via IM, suggest opening a Group Chat/Persistent Chat so you can show the log to someone else later.

The more users are exposed to Lync tools this way, the more curious they’ll be.

Collect blog posts & reference guides, and give out the URLs anytime someone asks about Lync. If you’re stirring curiosity, people will ask questions. This way, you’ll have reading material for anyone asking questions about what Lync can do for them.

Make sure all mobile workers have Lync Mobile installed & working. You can always call them through Lync this way to build awareness. Plus they’ll have a new app on their phone – curiosity will get them eventually!

Successfully encouraged users into Lync? Tell us!

Have you successfully incorporated Lync communications tools into daily operations? Let’s hear about how you did it!

I’d like to showcase some administrators who rolled out successful adoptions. Please leave your stories in the comments, or email me.

(No last names will be shared, and your company will not be mentioned if you don’t want me to.)

Future Lync Insider posts will have whatever insights we have to share. Until then, see you next time!

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About the Skype for Business Insider Blog

The Skype4B Insider is a blog about the technology we use to communicate in business today. Here we talk about Microsoft's Skype for Business Server 2015, Lync Server 2013, Unified Communications, Voice over IP and related technologies like Exchange Server. Written by Chris W., MCSE in Communication and PlanetMagpie IT Consulting's Digital Marketing & Communications Manager.